News & Research

Japanese Art to Offer Relief

04/06/2011

Adria Boynton presenting one of the design ideas that was incorporated into a site-specific installation for the Japan Society in NYC.

On Saturday, April 9, students from the RISD studio Architectonics will join their instructor, New York-based architect Aki Ishida, at the Japan Society in New York City for a benefit concert and workshop to raise funds for the Society’s Earthquake Relief Fund. They will install Luminous Washi Lantern, a project they designed collaboratively during Wintersession, and run a full-day workshop to teach visitors how to fold paper pieces that will be added to the installation.

A longtime member of RISD’s adjunct faculty, Ishida has taught
Architectonics every Wintersession since 2007, attracting some of the best students to a class that has become a perennial favorite in Architecture. “This year’s project evolved from assignments I have given in previous years focused on temporary paper-enclosed spaces,” Ishida explains. In the past, students have designed hypothetical projects for such sites as the Providence Art Club parking lot and a “Japanese village” Ishida is designing for Concordia Language
Villages in Minnesota. However, after attending a festival at the Japan Society last spring, she determined that it “would be a perfect venue for an installation with RISD students.” The Society agreed – and then chose to incorporate the installation as part of this weekend’s fundraiser for relief efforts.

Inspired by traditional Japanese lantern
festivals, the Luminous Washi Lantern project explores the use of light
and shadow in Japanese architecture and
celebrates the ephemeral, fleeting
nature of materials traditionally used
in Japanese rituals and events. As part of the class, a dozen sophomore and Foundation students worked closely with five teaching assistants who had participated in previous Architectonics studios – Jason Keyes BArch 12, Alex
McCargar BArch 11, E. Tristan Mead BArch 14, Evita Yumul BArch 08 and Henry Zimmerman BArch 13. Each student explored various designs for cutting and folding the mulberry paper traditionally used for lanterns. The group then collectively chose and synthesized designs by Adria Boynton BArch 15, Fernando Diaz Smith 13 ID and Timothy Dobday BArch 15to develop for the site-specific piece in NYC.

Installed in the the Japan Society’s skylit lobby, Luminous Washi Lantern will actually grow over the
course of the day as visitors write messages to survivors of the earthquake and fold the paper (donated in part by the risd:store and C2F) before adding it to the installation. Doors open at 11 am and the piece will remain illuminated until 11 pm, when the event
ends.

The benefit on Saturday is built around the CONCERT FOR JAPAN, which features performers such as Laurie Anderson (who holds an honorary degree from RISD), Philip Glass, Lou
Reed and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Although tickets
for the gala are already sold out, the concert will be projected on screens both inside and
outside the building and will stream live on UStream.

“Being a Sakamoto fan since junior high school, I am especially excited about
his participation,” Ishida notes. Most importantly, she is pleased that she and her current and former Architectonics students can help with Japanese relief efforts as they “share this special convergence of our interests in Japan, work with light and ephemeral materials, and interest in teaching
the public about design.”